Snow Day
by sparrowsky
Summary: Emily is bored. Spencer overthinks things, as usual.


Prentiss sat at her desk, case files ever so thoughtfully dropped there by JJ scattered all over the well worn surface. She looked at the clock, then back at the files. Sighing, she slumped in her chair.

"Hey, Reid. Let's get out of here. Let's go get... ice-cream or something."

Reid looked at Prentiss over his own stack of files, a quizzical smile affixed to his lips.

"Now? It's the middle of the day. In the middle of winter. In fact, it's even snowing outside. The weather report says that it's supposed to snow all day and we're supposed to get 3-5 inches here in the outlying areas, but in the city the accumulations will be less. And furthermore, statistically speaking, way more accidents happen in inclement weather. Why would you want to go out now?"

Prentiss made an exasperated sound and slumped even lower in her seat. "I don't know! I just wanna get out of here! We've been cooped here for days and I'm going stir crazy! Can't JJ find us a case or something?"

Rocking back in his chair and placing both hands across his stomach, Reid looked over at her. "I sincerely hope that you see the inherent problem with that statement, Prentiss."

"What? Oh, of course I hope we don't get a case just so I won't be bored. I just... Oh, never mind. It's nothing."

"It can't be nothing. If something is bothering you, maybe you should see one of the psychologists here. You know, too many people ignore the warning signs and then.."

"Reid, I'm fine. I don't need to see a psychologist. I'm just feeling a little off, that's all. No need to sic the shrinks on me."

"Did you know that the term "shrink" comes from "headshrinker" and that some Amazonian tribes still.."

"Reid. Enough. Stop talking. NOW."

Prentiss was giving him that death glare that he'd seen her give some particularly nasty suspects, so he thought he should take her at her word. With a slight grimace of apology, he turned back to his own work.

Prentiss sighed and started going through the files on her desk, a little more forcefully than necessary. Reid frowned. This wasn't like Prentiss. He knew her to be tightly controlled, knew that she compartmentalized well, but seeing her like this was strange. Interesting. He watched her move folders from one pile to another, flip open another and scan through it before throwing it back down on yet another pile. His study of her was abruptly shattered when she stood, grabbed her coat from the back of her chair and swept from the bullpen without so much as a word of goodbye. Reid watched as she strode to the elevator, jabbing furiously at the button. When the elevator doors had opened and closed and swept Prentiss away, Reid was left sitting alone at his desk, perplexed.

Reid tried to think of things that could be bothering Prentiss. The cases they worked on were hard, they always were and certainly enough to put someone in an off mood, but he sensed that it wasn't work related. He'd noticed a certain tension in her lately that wasn't attributable to job stress. And maybe her gaze had lingered on him recently when she thought he wasn't looking? No. Surely he was reading something in her perusals that wasn't there.

An idea came to him and he got up and went in search of JJ, certain that she might have some insight into Prentiss's behavior.

Pausing at the door to JJ's office, Reid spied her blonde head amid piles of folders. She appeared to be deep in thought.

"JJ? Is this a bad time? I can come back." he asked.

"Spence! No, no. It's fine. Come in. I was just going over some files. Please, come in." JJ smiled at him warmly.

Reid walked over and bent his lanky frame into one of the chairs across from JJ. Then he reached over and fiddled with the pens in a metal holder. Then he leaned back and picked at the ragged cuff of his sweater and began jiggling his legs. All the while studiously avoiding JJ's eyes, as she sat at her desk watching this display with an amused expression.

"I swear you're worse than Henry! Why are you so fidgety? What's up?"

Reid looked up, caught. "Ah, well. Um, I was wondering... Hmm. I was talking to Prentiss earlier and she seems way out of sorts. Do you know anything that could be bothering her? I don't mean to pry. I just thought maybe you knew why she was acting so oddly."

"What do you mean "oddly"?

"Well, she just seems ansty and grumpy. And, I've noticed her staring at me lately." Reid cleared his throat and tried not to blush.

JJ smiled. "No, I don't really know. I mean, we've all been working a lot and we all get a little burned out. Maybe she just needs to get away for a bit. And you know we're not supposed to profile each other." She chided him.

Reid nodded. "Yeah, I know. I'm not really. Profiling her, I mean. I was just concerned." He paused, looking out the window at the falling snow. "But, you're right, though. She's a grown woman and can take care of herself." A pensive look crept over Reid's face. "Yeah, she doesn't need me to worry about her mental state if she's having a bad day. What was I thinking?" Abruptly, rising, Reid said "Thanks, JJ. I'll talk to you later. Thanks for all your help."

"You're welco-" JJ started, but Reid was already out the door.

Heaving a deep sigh, JJ bent back to her files. "Well, _that_ was weird."

Reid walked back to his desk deep in thought. Prentiss was more than capable of looking after herself and if she was having bad day, well who didn't have bad days doing the kind of work they did? It didn't say much about his faith in Prentiss's ability to take care of herself, if the first thing he did when he thought something was wrong was to try and swoop in and fix things. Surely there were better strategies. He'd seen Prentiss in the field and he did not NOT want to be on the receiving end of her wrath.

Shrugging it off and thinking that he'd just let Prentiss worry about Prentiss, Reid pulled himself up to his desk and shook his mouse to wake his computer up. He typed up some reports, e-mailed colleagues from various universities and was so engrossed in his work that he almost missed Prentiss's return about a half hour later.

He didn't miss her for long. Prentiss was licking a vanilla ice cream cone as she walked back to her desk. The part of Reid that he liked to pretend didn't exist went into overdrive by the sight of Prentiss' pink tongue slowly licking that creamy confection. Prentiss seemed oblivious to the turmoil she was causing in her fellow agent as she flashed him a quick smile.

Reid noticed that she had snowflakes slowly melting in her hair and cheeks were also rosy with the cold. He thought she'd never looked lovelier. Then he cursed himself for thinking that way about her. They worked together! There were rules about workplace romances, not that people didn't do it anyway. Still, it was the principle of the thing. Right?

He snuck another look at her and immediately flushed. She had just taken a long lick up the soft serve treats side and it was nearly the most erotic thing he had ever seen. He couldn't help it, he was mesmerized.

Morgan choose that moment to walk by. He smacked Reid lightly on the side of the head, ruffling his long locks.

"Close your mouth, kid. You're staring. It's embarrassing, seriously." Morgan chuckled, flashing his white teeth at Reid's aggrieved expression. Morgan continued on up the stairs to Hotch's office, still smiling to himself.

Returning to her desk, Prentiss took off her coat one handedly and sat down at her desk.

Reid noticed that she seemed more relaxed now and was riffling through folders much less distractedly than before. He watched her slowly lick all over the ice cream and felt his face flush. He let his gaze wander down to her breasts covered by a tight wine-colored sweater. Reid shifted in his seat when he thought about how the bountiful curves would feel should he ever be allowed to touch them. A phone rang nearby, startling him and Reid finally noticed that she was watching him watching her. Reid jerked abruptly, which set of a chain reaction of events that left him scrambling for pens all over the scuffed linoleum floor.

When he looked up from pen corralling, she was munching on the cone and licking at drips that were escaping the cone and sliding down her hand. She seemed to be doing to it with exaggerated care, not taking her eyes off him. Reid was puzzled and struggled to swallow the sudden knot in his throat.

Breaking eye contact with him, Prentiss got up to wash the ice cream off her hands. Not really sure why he was doing it, but knowing he HAD to, Reid followed her into the kitchen area. Leaning against the counter, Reid watched Prentiss wash and rinse her sticky hands.

"Is there something I can do for you, Reid?" There was a warmth to her voice, like she was seconds away from laughing.

"No, I.. I just wanted to apologize for earlier. You were just trying to talk and I was just jibbering on like I do and I should have just.."

She stopped him with an outstretched hand, then reached past him for some paper towels. His heart rate increased when her breast accidentally brushed his arm. _Was_ it an accident, he wondered.

"Reid, it's okay. I was just going a little nuts. It happens. I had some ice-cream and now I feel better." She smiled warmly and threw away the paper towels. Leaning against the edge of the counter, she mirrored his pose.

"I know, but I just feel bad that I just can't talk to people sometimes and that I always start to go off on these strange tangents and start spouting off these weird statistics. Speaking of, did you know that 43.7% of statistics are made up on the spot?"

She smiled, brushing her dark hair back from her face. She inclined her head towards him. A playful twinkle appeared to her eyes that intrigued and aroused him. Was Prentiss _flirting _with him? He tried to gauge if her pupils had dilated at all, but her irises were so dark, it was impossible to tell.

"I did know that, actually. And I don't usually mind your tangents when I'm not having a grumpy day. In fact," She lowered her voice and leaned in closer to him, so close that he could smell her perfume. Something expensive and exotic, he thought. It made him slightly dizzy. "I think it's kind of sexy. Shows what a big... brain you have." She winked at him and he felt heat creep up under his collar.

"You like it, really?" He cleared his throat, tried again. "I mean, really?"

Prentiss looked into his eyes with a wicked grin, before leaning up so close to him that she was now pressed against him from shoulder to hip and breathed into his ear "Yes, Reid. _Really_."

It was all he could do to still the shudder passing through him. The fine hairs on the back of his arms stood up at her nearness and his breathing was becoming more labored.

He tried to calm himself by taking a deep inhale and forcing himself to exhale as slowly as possible.

_It's now or never, kid. _

"You, know, I was thinking. Somewhere around 47% of workers have dated a coworker at one time and maybe you and I could... I don't know what I'm trying to say. Okay, what I think I'm actually trying to say is.. "

"Reid, are you trying to ask me out?" Prentiss didn't look as disgusted by the idea as he thought she would, so he took that as encouragement to press forward. That and he could still feel the rounded shape of her breast pressed against his arm.

"Well, yeah. I think I am." He continued. "There's an exhibit of rare books at the Folger Shakespeare Library I thought maybe you'd like to see with me or we could go..."

"I think we should go get ice-cream. Right now."

"But, didn't you just go get ice-cream?"

"Yeah, but it didn't satisfy me. I _always_ want more." Prentiss raised her eyebrow at him, challenging him.

"We're not just going out for ice-cream, are we, Emily?"

"No, Reid. We're not."

Reid swallowed hard.

"I'll get my coat."


End file.
